Hey Guys! The spookiest occasion of the year is around the corner, so are you ready with your Spooky Costumes and candies? Yes, you get it right. Today we will be talking about Halloween Day. Well, it is mostly celebrated in Western countries. However, due to globalization and shared culture, it has become a global Halloween Day celebration. As we all know, Halloween Day is celebrated on 31st October. But why? Has the date any connotation? Let’s find it.
The Great and Telling Tales from History says Halloween is dated back to 750 BC to 12 BC. It is an ancient Celtic festival named Sanhain (pronounced as sow-in). It was celebrated the day before Celtic New Year, which is supposed to be 1st November. November is the time when the Summer ends and nurture the beginning of long chilly nights of Winter. Cold and dark is often associated with human death.
The Celtics believed that on the night of 31st October, the boundary between the Living and Dead gets blurred. As the land started to wither, the dead leaves flew off the trees, the creatures of the night rabbled down to the spirits. Celtics believed that those evil spirits returned to Earth to let their presence be felt. So, commemorate this event, they decided to sacrifice their belongings (crops and animals). They build substantial scared bonfires and get dressed in animal skins to protect themselves from coming Winter.From this viewpoint, Halloween Day is the festival of a dying year.
Around 43AD, the Romans conquered Celtic territory. As the two different cultures get assimilated, a fusion occurs. Celtic Samhain gets combined with Roman Feralia. Feralia is also celebrated in late October in the remembrance of the passing souls. The next day of Feralia is Pomona, cheering to flora and fauna; in short Living. They played a fun game ‘bobbing for apples’ to seal fortunes. We can see this tradition being practised even today in most Halloween Day parties. Over time Christianity started to feel its presence in Celtic ideology.Pope Boniface IV started the fest ‘All Martyrs Day' to honour the noble souls. Eventually, 1st November becomes a Church-sanctioned holiday after 'All Saints’ Day’. It is also known as ‘All-hallows’ or ‘All-hallowmas’. ‘All-hallowmas’ is derived from a Middle-English term ‘Alholowmesse’. The night before, this which is 31st October is eventually known as All-Hallows Eve or Halloween Day.
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